Bayesian updating during development predicts genotypic differences in plasticity

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary Genetics
• Developmental Plasticity
• Behavioral Genetics

Background:

• Genotype-environment interactions are crucial in evolutionary genetics but often lack theoretical prediction.
• Bayesian models of development offer a theoretical framework to predict genotypic differences in developmental plasticity.
• Developmental plasticity involves changes in traits due to experience, influenced by initial trait values in naive subjects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test predictions from Bayesian models of development regarding genotype-environment interactions.
• To investigate how aversive olfactory conditioning affects Drosophila melanogaster larval attraction to ethyl acetate across different genotypes.
• To determine if initial trait values predict developmental plasticity in response to learned aversions.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Bayesian models to make a priori predictions about genotypic responses to olfactory conditioning.
• Exposed 116 genotypes of Drosophila melanogaster larvae to an aversive olfactory conditioning regime with ethyl acetate.
• Measured larval attraction to ethyl acetate before and after the conditioning experience.

Main Results:

• As predicted, initial trait values (naïve attraction) were significantly related to developmental plasticity.
• Genotypes with higher initial attraction to ethyl acetate showed a greater reduction in attraction after aversive training.
• The variance in genotype attraction scores was higher before than after the shared conditioning experience.

Conclusions:

• The results support the predictive power of Bayesian models of development in evolutionary genetics.
• These models can successfully predict how ancestral information and individual experience interact to shape developmental plasticity.
• Demonstrated differential effects of experience on plasticity based on genotype and initial trait expression.